Children's Home run by Safe Haven (Childrens Homes) LTD in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 1 Registered provider: Safe Haven (Children’s Homes) Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in December 2024 and is privately operated. It offers care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, three children were living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children move into the home in a planned and sensitive way. The manager and staff ensured that they were well prepared, including having their bedrooms personalised for when the children arrived. This supports children to feel cared for and settled.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are at the heart of this home. Staff provide children with an extremely warm and nurturing home environment. Staff speak about children with enthusiasm, warmth and compassion. They demonstrate an unwavering commitment to the children. This enables children to flourish in all areas of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. Staff show a genuine commitment to supporting children. This helps children to settle following their moves into the home. This has been critical in enabling children to begin to build secure and meaningful relationships that are built on trust. One child said, ‘The home is 10 out of 10, because staff are so nice and caring. They’re the best.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported and encouraged to make choices and decisions about their day-to-day care, to have fun and try new experiences. Children are beginning to access a range of activities in the local community. For example, children have enjoyed time at the beach, trampolining and day trips to outdoor activity centres. This helps to develop children’s confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged and supported to attend education. As children become older, staff help them prepare for moves to secondary school. Staff work closely with education providers to ensure there is effective partnership working to help children make good progress. Children receive consistency in care and education. This positive environment encourages children to achieve and engage with learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s daily records are comprehensive and well considered. However, information about children is not always recorded in a non-stigmatising way.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children enjoy the trusting relationships they have built with the staff. Children know they are listened to. They can share their worries or concerns and are confident that these will be taken seriously. This reflects the staff’s ability to manage and support children to work through their worries.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff know the vulnerabilities of each child, the risks they can be exposed to and how best to protect them. However, risk assessments do not include all identified risks and did not contain up-to-date information. This has the potential to increase the risk of harm. Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 3 Children know how to make a complaint. Children feel able to voice their concerns to the manager and staff. Children also have access to an advocate, giving them an opportunity to raise concerns with someone independent to the home. This helps children to feel heard and valued.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff understand the individual needs of children well. They respond sensitively and adapt their approaches as needed. As a result, the use of restraint has not been required. This demonstrates the effectiveness of de-escalation strategies. The staff work with the children to reflect on their behaviour after incidents. All aspects of behaviour management are well monitored by managers.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The use of consequences is infrequent. When consequences have been used, they are reviewed by the manager. The manager is working with the team to move towards a more restorative approach to behaviour management. This will enable the children to learn about the impact of their actions on others and find more appropriate ways to express themselves.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff have a clear understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. Safeguarding is routinely discussed in one-to-one meetings. Staff know how to report any concerns they have. When safeguarding concerns have occurred, the manager and staff reflect on their practice, and because of this, safeguarding practice is adapted in line with the changing needs of each child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is dedicated and committed to helping children reach their full potential. She sets high expectations for staff and leads by example. Issues of poor practice are appropriately managed, and staff are supported to improve their practice. There is a stable team of staff, who are committed to their roles. Staff have positive and supportive relationships with each other, providing children with stability and consistency of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported and enjoy working at the home. There is an established staff team that works well together. Staff are passionate about caring for children and achieving good outcomes. One staff member said, ‘It really doesn’t feel like work; seeing the children progress and grow is amazing.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well trained. They receive training in relation to children’s needs, such as autism. Staff have also received trauma-informed training. This has helped to upskill and develop the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have regular supervision sessions completed by a member of the management team. However, not all supervision records include evidence of reflective practice. This is a missed learning opportunity to support staff to develop in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management monitoring systems are in place. Weekly and monthly audits are undertaken by staff and managers. Audits are also undertaken by the responsible Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 4 individual for additional scrutiny. Although children are making progress, systems would benefit from being strengthened to enable the manager to track and measure children’s individual progress. Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s risk assessments are kept up to date and provide clear guidance to staff. 28 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(iv)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s plans are strengthened to enable managers to monitor and evidence progress made. 28 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 6

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Safe Haven (Children’s Homes) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3.1 Clarendon Park, Clumber Avenue, Nottingham NG5 1AH

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Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2761220 8 and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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